Big brother will be watching closer than ever and will be using AI technology to not only tailor your feeds but also pinpoint what you would want to buy.
Meta announced it will be using AI to personalize "content and ad recommendations on our platforms based on people’s interactions with our generative AI features."
The use of Meta AI to control your content and advertising won’t start until December 16, but users of the company’s platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram, will be alerted to the change next week.
The company has long used what you do on the platforms to feed you more of what Meta thinks you want.
But now it will also use interaction with AI to help “improve people’s experience.”
“Whether it’s a voice chat or a text exchange with our AI features, this update will help us improve the recommendations we provide for people across our platforms so they’re more likely to see content they’re actually interested in — and less of the content they’re not. For example, if you chat with Meta AI about hiking, we may learn that you’re interested in hiking — just as we would if you posted a reel about hiking or liked a hiking-related Page. As a result, you might start seeing recommendations for hiking groups, posts from friends about trails, or ads for hiking boots," Meta said.
The company promised that users will be able to control the content and ads through Ads Preferences and feed controls.
But Christy Harris, a privacy policy manager at Meta, said users will not be able to opt out, Bloomberg reported. She also said, “We don’t have plans to share” whether the company will show ads in the chatbot.
She said that most users assumed the company was already using Meta AI to target feeds and ads and called it “an incremental change,” according to Bloomberg.
It also said that if it uses a person’s voice to access AI, it will indicate it on the device’s microphone that it is being used.
"We don’t use your microphone unless you’ve given us permission and are actively using a feature that requires the microphone," Meta pledged.
Some topics will be off limits for advertising, including “religious views, sexual orientation, political views, health, racial or ethnic origin, philosophical beliefs, or trade union membership.”
Meta plans to roll out the new functionality around the world but will not release it in the UK, the European Union and South Korea just yet, but hopes to add them once the system undergoes a regulatory review, Bloomberg reported.
CNN reported that Meta AI has 1 billion monthly users, but the company did not say how often people use it regularly.